Ursula Le Guin nominated by Kate Stables
Ursula le Guin was born in California, USA in 1929. Her books - including A Wizard of Earthsea and The Left Hand of Darkness - have been described as masterpieces.Yet she battled prejudice all her lif...
21 Apr 202027min
Frank Cottrell Boyce on Tove Jansson
"One of the best things a children's writer can do is to implant sign posts in childhood to things that are good, and to the small pleasures that will get you through life" Frank Cottrell-Boyce Tove J...
14 Apr 202027min
Rick Stein on Jim Morrison
Chef , writer and presenter Rick Stein chooses the lead singer of The Doors, Jim Morrison.As a 21 year old man travelling the world, a young Rick Stein discovered The Doors and became fascinated by th...
10 Apr 202026min
Andi Oliver on Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison
When Andi Oliver first read Toni Morrison's 'The Bluest Eye' she felt as though someone climbed inside her head. Morrison's books saved the chef and broadcaster's life - both emotionally and cerebrall...
21 Jan 202027min
Kurt Vonnegut
"I am a German American, a pure one, dating back to when German Americans were still marrying each other." Kurt Vonnegut was born in Indianapolis in 1922, but the most important event in his life happ...
10 Jan 202027min
Charlie Parker nominated by Ken Clarke
From Kansas City to New York, young Charlie Parker conquered the world of jazz.. He was famous during his life, and even more famous after he died aged 34. He's nominated here by former health ministe...
3 Jan 202029min
Bill Bailey on his hero Alfred Russel Wallace
Bill Bailey has not just travelled in naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace's footsteps, he's crazy about him too. "I love him, I really do." Wallace is best known for what used to be known as the Wallace...
24 Dec 201927min
Novelist Enid Blyton
Janice Turner recently wrote a sweet, sensitive article about packing up the contents of her parent’s house. “The experience was almost unbearable,” she began. Among the items passed down from the att...
24 Dec 201927min
